Happy 1st Referral Day

One year ago today, the day started like any other. Me, anxious and full of anticipation. Waiting and waiting. Wondering. Trying to push through everything like life was normal, as if we weren't waiting for our future with every second that ticked by. I had decided to work from home that day when THE CALL came.

It's hard to believe we've known about Gadisa for 1 year now. It's gone by so quickly. My life is completely different than what it used to be one year ago. I no longer am just a "me" when sharing my day's stories with my husband. I am a "we." "We" are an "us". The two of us, my son and I. My little sidekick and adventure buddy.

When I saw the first photo of him I couldn't breathe. He was surreal. A dream long in the making. We had a face to focus on. That face had a name now.

Oliver Gadisa Lyric has been in my heart from the moment he was referred to us. Every motherly sense about me came out instinctively and I hung tightly to my heart to keep him safe. I thought about him every second of the day and starred at his few photos that we had until every image was engraved in my mind.

These days, I live what I wondered about. I love just watching him. Playing, laughing, touching things & then looking at me to see when I will say "No!" Then I think...there was actually a time when we didn't know each other?? How could that be?! Gadisa is one of those people that pull you in. His charm, that sneaky smile, the way he wants to make you laugh and his seriousness all bundled into one soul is beyond beautiful. Being his mother is such an honor.

Happy Referral Day, G! We love you so much and are so very proud of you!

Leaving the bottle behind

I wanted to put it off. I wanted to keep babying him. Our doctor told us at 15 months, get him off. Josh agreed. To me this is more symbolic than just taking him off the bottle. To me, it's a loss of his infancy. It's a loss of an aspect of mothering. Those slow, afternoon moments of rocking him to sleep while feeding him a bottle remind me of summer. Remind me of when he came to us. Now, our little guy is a toddler. Now, he's a sippy cup taker. Now, he's a walker. It's happening so fast. Everyone says it does. I just want to scoop him up and push pause. It's so hard to watch them grow up before your eyes, yet so sooo beautiful.

I informed Josh the other day that if Gadisa chooses to go to college in another city (gulp!) we would in fact be moving to whatever city that was. I mean, come on...who else is going to cut up his food into itty-bitty pieces so he doesn't choke?